Sunday, February 12, 2012

The Adventures of a Cardboard Box---applications for speech therapy

My blog so far has concentrated on early elementary children who are still developing functional communication. I do teach a few 3rd through 5th graders, though, who have higher level language skills both verbally and with academics. Showing these kids a short book, or even a story on a 1st to 2nd grade level, however, can cause some anxiety, and the act of reading or listening to the words becomes an exercise in decoding frustration and inattention. That's where this movie becomes a nice springboard into developing some higher level thinking skills.

I want to use some of the ideas from this website, Film-English, and show my kids the movie, The Adventures of a Cardboard Box (8 min). This film (which has no dialog but lots of action) and potential for developing higher level thinking can be used with an entire classroom of children, with some modifications for those who need our services, for those of you who provide 'push in' or collaborative services in regular education.

Bloom's Taxonomy has been around for a long time (I learned about it in 1986). Personally, I think The Adventures of a Cardboard Box is great for every level of questioning and critical thinking. Most often, I focus on 'knowledge' and 'comprehension' but I really need to go deeper, and learn to develop my students' higher level thinking. Using this movie, such thinking can be expanded using this visual, nonverbal format. The kids don't first have to read a book---applying higher level questions to books can come next.

I looked at a Bloom's Taxonomy website, and generated a list of questions which hopefully touch on each level. I'm not a Bloom's Taxonomy expert, however. You might develop better questions yourself!

Knowledge: Make a list of main events.

What uses of the box can you remember? Who are the characters in the story?

Comprehension: What do you think was the main idea of the story?

Retell this story.

Application: What was a time when you used something creatively? (not for its intended purpose)

If you were given (object), what's a creative use for it?

Analysis: If the box had never arrived, what else would the boy do with his time?

What is the underlying message or theme of this movie?

Synthesis: Create a commercial for a box such as the one above. (group project)

Create a commercial for another item but not for its intended purpose. (also group project)

Evaluation: Write a paragraph as to why creativity is important?

Compare and contrast this type of play to that of playing video games. Which one do you feel is better for children? Support your answers.

My children who happen to be in an EC classroom will most likely work on the first three question categories---knowledge, comprehension, and application. I'll touch on the other three, and model appropriate answers, provide sentence starters, or multiple choices if they can't provide them spontaneously. I just love the movie and think it will be great to start some conversation, thinking skills, and application to their own lives.